rip off Britain!!

[Kiwiavenger]

ive worked in a repair centre (as a driver and in the office) of an insurance owned repair centre! the lowest i saw rates drop too was £24 PH, highest was £45! the insurance contract states New parts (manufacturer parts if less than 3 years, OEM if over) along with collection and delivery free (lease the trucks and pay for 6 drivers where i worked) a big one is free storage, i know police instructed recovery companys can charge £20 per day just to have the car sat there doing nothing paid for by joe bloggs or insurance, where as bodyshops dont have that priviledge.

the main cost in claims nowadays is Credit hire and personal injury! i try and put people off going into hire as much as possible (i get first point of contact with customers claiming) but i know that a lot of bodyshops and dealerships contact credit hire firms as a matter of course! they are hideously expensive though. i could rant all day on the subject but i need to go to work to deal with idiots in accidents

 

[colly]

Anyway, I know a local guy who works on his own in a tiny workshop (low overheads) and I am sure he can do it for half that.

I'm sure you can get him to do a cheaper job but why would the owner of the Punto be interested in letting him?
What if he does a bum job? who has to go to the trouble of getting him to sort it out? Not you.

My son had his next door neighbour reverse into him and dent both doors and the front wing. The neighbour didn't want to go through the insurance company and agreed to pay. Having go a quote for the work (not from a main dealer mind you) said neighbour had second thoughts. He came up with the gem of a plan whereby he would get a couple of same coloured doors from a scrapyard fit them with his mate and fill and spray over the wing dent.

My son told him NO.

Looking it another way. If someone made a mess of your bike would you want it sorting out properly or have it done on the cheap just to save someone else a few quid?

 

[Mad at urage]

I needed a new headlight for my Volvo V50 , due to it being Xenon with built in self leveling motor a new one from the dealers was £550 + VAT , i tried everywhere to get a used on with no luck.
Ended up taking the motor out and wedging the assembly inside to be fixed height, £0.00 just two hours messing with it.

The self-leveling motors are there for a reason (http://www.lightmare.org/Worst_offenders.htm). Please get that fixed properly, not only is it an MOT failure from 2012 (http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/technicalpenpicture3-lighting.pdf) but it is bloody dangerous for other road users, who will be dazzled by your lights (up to three times as bright as halogen lamps!).

 

[gavroche]

I'm sure you can get him to do a cheaper job but why would the owner of the Punto be interested in letting him?
What if he does a bum job? who has to go to the trouble of getting him to sort it out? Not you.

My son had his next door neighbour reverse into him and dent both doors and the front wing. The neighbour didn't want to go through the insurance company and agreed to pay. Having go a quote for the work (not from a main dealer mind you) said neighbour had second thoughts. He came up with the gem of a plan whereby he would get a couple of same coloured doors from a scrapyard fit them with his mate and fill and spray over the wing dent.

My son told him NO.

Looking it another way. If someone made a mess of your bike would you want it sorting out properly or have it done on the cheap just to save someone else a few quid?

This articular chap is highly profesional and has done work for me and other people I know in the past. His work is A1 and no one ever complained, so I trust him explicitly. I just dont like being ripped off and prefer to support the little man rather than big garages.

 

[colly]

This articular chap is highly profesional and has done work for me and other people I know in the past. His work is A1 and no one ever complained, so I trust him explicitly. I just dont like being ripped off and prefer to support the little man rather than big garages.

I don't doubt that Gav and I'm sure he would do a good job but I'm just looking at it from the other owners perspective.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

The self-leveling motors are there for a reason (http://www.lightmare.org/Worst_offenders.htm). Please get that fixed properly, not only is it an MOT failure from 2012 (http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/technicalpenpicture3-lighting.pdf) but it is bloody dangerous for other road users, who will be dazzled by your lights (up to three times as bright as halogen lamps!).

You automaticaly have decided that i set it in a position that was pointing up / higher than you would set a normal positioned headlight, self leveling is a gimic and headlights have been in a fixed position for the last 50 years , most have adjusters but that said are fixed in one position between MOT's.
As it happens i found a chap with a flat cap , a pipe and a beard who worked in a shed (all the clever people have beards and work in sheds) who split the unit and fixed the adjuster on the self level part and resealed it, sinse then it has been through two MOT and i check the level manualy against the garage doors every night (not very scientific but it works)
So unlike the lad i pass most days coming the opposite direction on a cracking looking Scott S30 who has a front light that makes the sun look dim, i will be dip not dazzle thank you very much.

 

[summerdays]

We had a bump in the past ... and needed a new rear bumper I think (can't quite remember the details), but what I do remember is that the guy didn't want his insurance to pay up - so said he would pay - just get quotes. When we got the quotes which shocked us let alone him, he then became very shirty about paying up and only paid about half the cost. As we hadn't got the full money we didn't get around to replacing the bumper immediately. Mr Summerdays parked the car in the works car park a few weeks later, and some lorry managed to drive around the car park damaging several cars including ours and would have tried to leave if the security guard hadn't stopped him. So they ended up paying for the new bumper and a rear panel/lights etc.

Since then we wouldn't agree to not go down the insurance route rather than getting caught out buy someone refusing to pay later.